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killed without the chance of victory. This could partly share the blame for the Tsarina and Rasputin being left in charge as the Tsar left to take command of the Army because he thought he could put an end to the Failures. b) The Tsarina and Rasputin: The Tsarina and Rasputin were a short-term reason because the only time when they could cause havoc in the country was when the Tsar left in August 1915. Even though Rasputin came to power in 1911 after the assassination of Stolypin, he did not play an important role in the decisions when the Tsar was in charge. People distrusted them as the Tsarina was German and Rasputin was a mysterious figure, these also created distrust to the Tsar as he left them in charge.
Tsarina was greatly influenced by Rasputin as he could control the bleeding of her hemophiliac son Alexis. Raputin influenced the Tsarina’s decision in appointing ministers and so hopeless ministers were brought to power. The people thought they were lovers and hated them even more. They made a mess of running the country, as `in two years there were four prime ministers and four ministers of war`5, this meant that no body was properly organizing the transportation of food and supplies to the cities and therefore the Tsarina and Rasputin shared the blame for food shortages, as they could not organize the transportation of food as well as stopping the strikes to get the peasants to produce food. The people created strikes demanding an end to fuel and food shortages as well as an end to the greatly costing and humiliating war and also demanding the Tsarina and Rasputin to be put down. The Tsarina could also be blamed for Failures in the war as no body was organizing the delivery of food and supplies to the front line and no munitions were made, as the Tsarina and Rasputin were incapable of putting down the strikes.
Soldiers were unhappy with this and created a Mutiny. Factories had to close as a result of large amount of strikers (partly caused by the Tsarina and Rasputin), which the leaders were incapable of putting down, and the fuel shortage for which the leaders and the climate were responsible. Rail tracks iced over and there were so many hopeless ministers appointed by the Tsarina that none of them could organize the fuel and food transportation. c) Strikes: Strikes were a very long-term reason as they were going on for a very long time. They could be traced back to 1903 when the Okhrana relaxed censorship.
Strikes were mainly going on as a cause of food shortages. However strikes increased dramatically when the war began. People started demanding an end to the war, food, and fuel for warmth. This was virtually impossible to do as very few trains were left to transport supplies to the cities and the rail tracks iced over in winter. The strikes paralyzed industry that meant nothing was being produced.
Strikes created more food shortages as the peasants were striking instead of producing food. Factory workers also went on strike meaning no munitions were being produced and so the army suffered great Failures as a cause of vast shell shortage. Strikes were then responsible for the Mutiny in the Army as soldiers were unhappy with their living conditions. Strikes were a major cause of the revolution as all the people turned against he government, and the government could not satisfy all the wants without the people working and not striking, so strikes increased as nothing was done to improve their living conditions. Strikes were also caused by sky high prices and there fore after waiting in the queue for bread for hours, people would realize that the prices have risen to high and they can not afford or that all the bread has ran out while they were waiting.
This created great frustration and the strikers were ready to use violence against the government, this is why the army was sent to deal with them but it refused. People began hating the government and so they were doing their best to create trouble for the government and the Tsar so that he would abdicate. 3) The Mutiny in the Army: In the year 1905, the people had attempted to over throw the Tsar, however in 1905, the army was loyal to the Tsar since it was not mistreated to such an extend (as in 1917). There fore the Tsar used the Army to put down the attempted revolution by force, this is what it did, and it shot at the strikers and revolutionaries and so put down the attempted revolution by force. The Army protected the Tsar’s reign until 12th March 1917, when the generals told the Tsar that the Army no longer supports him.
After the attempted revolution of 1905, the outcome of the army joining the strikers in 1917 was clear. All reasons did something for the revolution, just like in 1905, but in 1905 no revolution succeeded; for the only reason that the Army did as the Tsar had commanded. If the Army followed the Tsar’s commands and did not mutiny in 1917, no revolution would take place as long as the army was loyal to the Tsar. All the reasons already discussed had built up tension between the Tsar and his people, some may have built up less but all of them contributed to firstly, the people turning against the Tsar, and secondly, the Army turning against the Tsar. In 1905 only the people turned against the Tsar, whereas in 1917 the Army also turned against the Tsar, this was the Mutiny. As you can see, remove one of the 2 away, and no revolution would happen.
The Army was the half that decided whether the Revolution would happen or not. The Mutiny in the Army was the cause that triggered the revolution. It was due to the starvation of the troops as well as the reason of going to combat without any chances of victory (therefore suffering countless defeats) and having nearly half the troops unarmed. This meant that about half the army would have to get killed before the others got the chance to hold a rifle in combat. Also, the Tsar was a very bad commander, this meant he had bad strategic plans and the soldiers began to realize that when the death tolls became endless and therefore did not support his plans any longer.
The soldiers were ordered to shoot the revolutionaries; the army shot about 40 people before refusing to obey further commands, some regiments even shot their own officers. The soldiers had enough of the War and the way they were treated. Some soldiers just refused to shoot at the crowd and others joined the demonstrators and marched to the Duma demanding they take control. The soldiers blamed all their losses on the commander, the Tsar, and therefore began to hate him.
The Tsar lost support of its only protection, the Army; once he lost his protection, there was no barrier to separate him from the revolutionaries. The Army was all that gave power to the Tsar, without it, the Tsar would have no power over the people. The Army was also the only thing that controlled the population because the people would no longer listen to the Tsar or the government, however because of ill treatment the Army refused to control the strikers by force and joined them as they were suffering just as badly as the people. After the Tsar lost his power, control over the population and his protection, he was the forced to abdicate. Once the public found out that there was no one to shoot at them, strikes increased as the people who were afraid of getting shot at joined the strikers. Now the Tsar had no support of the population or the Army and therefore was forced to abdicate on the 15th of March 1917.
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